New Delhi, April 18 -- Maya Angelou, born Marguerite Johnson in St. Louis in 1928, became one of the most influential literary and moral voices of her time. She rose to international prominence withI Know Why the Caged Bird Sings in 1969, then built a career that spanned poetry, memoir, performance, teaching, and civil rights activism. Her official biography describes a life of unusual range - poet, memoirist, educator, dramatist, producer, actress, historian, filmmaker, and activist - and notes that she received more than 50 honorary doctorate degrees. Angelou died in 2014, but her work still resonates because it joined personal truth with public courage.

"The truth is, no one of us can be free until everybody is free."-Maya Angelou

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